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A Global History of the Olympics
by David Goldblatt
The definitive sports and social history of the modern Olympic Games, by one of the most celebrated sportswriters of our time.
Renowned sportswriter David Goldblatt has been hailed by the Wall Street Journal for writing "with the expansive eye of a social and cultural critic" In The Games Goldblatt delivers a magisterial history of the biggest sporting event of them all: the Olympics.
He tells the epic story of the Games from their reinvention in Athens in 1896 to the present day, chronicling classic moments of sporting achievement from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Miracle on Ice to Usain Bolt. He goes beyond the medal counts to explore how international conflicts have played out at the Olympics, including the role of the Games in Fascist Germany and Italy, the Cold War, and the struggles of the postcolonial world for recognition. He also tells the extraordinary story of how women fought to be included on equal terms, how the Paralympics started in the wake of World War II, and how the Olympics reflect changing attitudes to race and ethnicity. 8 pages of photographs
"Starred Review. This work will appeal to readers interested in the Olympics, the sociology of sport, and modern history." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. Gracefully written and compellingly argued, this is one of the best books of the year and one of the best sports books ever written."- Kirkus Reviews
"A magisterial history of the Olympics ... chronicling classic moments of sporting achievements as well as the Games' significance in international conflicts." - Publishers Weekly
This information about The Games was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
David Goldblatt is the author of The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer and Futebol Nation: The Story of Brazil Through Soccer. He writes for the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian and has taught the sociology of sport at Bristol University, the International Center for Sports History and Culture, and Pitzer College in Los Angeles.
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